


Swear On It

by EdgarAllenPoet



Series: Dads of Marmora [6]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A ridiculous amount of curse words, Gen, Get a grip Keith, dads of marmora, lance pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-16 20:07:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11836104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EdgarAllenPoet/pseuds/EdgarAllenPoet
Summary: “Geez, Keith.  You kiss your mother with that mouth?”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Dads of Marmora deserved an update, and gobegreat's last comment inspired me.

It was pretty obvious, in Lance's opinion, that Keith didn't have any younger siblings.  At least none wildly younger than him, and no little nieces or nephews or cousins, either.  

 

For one, when Lance made a vague joke about a TV show every five year old on Earth had been obsessed with when they'd left, Keith had stared at him blankly.  Hunk had rolled his eyes at least, but he'd talked about babysitting before.  He was used to kids.  Pidge had thrown a bolt at him.  She had younger cousins.

 

Not to mention, Keith was possibly the tensest, most socially anxious person Lance had ever met.  Put him around little people and it only got worse- he froze like a damn snowman.  There was no way Keith had been around little kids growing up.  He acted like they were alien (and, well, usually they were, but that wasn't really a surprise anymore.  Heck, Keith was alien. No, okay- he acted like they were alien, and like the fact that they were aliens was a big surprise.  There. Yeah).

 

Those things aside, something else made it even more obvious that he was not used to being around children.  Keith swore like a darn sailor. 

 

Keith had been pretty reserved at first, but once they spent a good amount of time in space- fighting for their lives side by side, rooting around inside each other’s heads, sharing an eternal bond, and attempting to defeat the most evil force in the universe- he unwound a bit.  When he started to get comfortable, he started to talk more.  After that it was only a matter of time before he started to swear. 

 

It started small.  Lance was passing by the training room on his way towards the kitchen, enroute for a midnight snack (the name of which was entirely for the sake of habit.  Midnight didn’t exist in space, not when they grabbed sleep whenever it made itself available and spent every other waking minute running themselves ragged).  He’d been passing by the training room while looking for a midnight snack when he heard a crash, a clatter, and one gruffly hissed out four letter word. 

 

“ _ Fuck!” _ Keith shouted.  Lance peeked through the window and found Keith on the floor of the training room next to a pile of busted up training droids, clutching his foot and glaring at the scraps. 

 

“Defeated by training droid?” Lance asked, opening the training room door with the press of his hand.  Keith looked up at him and scowled. 

 

“Fuck off,” he said, the second colorful word of the night.  To be fair, it had been a while since they’d gotten any actual sleep.  Lance couldn’t blame him for being irritable. 

 

“Upgrade to space lingo like the rest of us,” Lance said.  “Or shut your quiznack.” 

 

Keith picked himself up off the floor and toed gently at the limp arm of a dead droid.  “Still not using that word correctly,” he grumbled.  “What are you doing awake?”  Lance shrugged, Keith shrugged, and they made their way wordlessly out of the training room and to the kitchen.  

  
  


After that, it started to happen more and more.  Like when you’re young, and you start to see a word everywhere after learning it for the first time in school, Lance caught notice of more and more of Keith’s profanities. 

 

It’s not like swearing was  _ new. _  Heck, Pidge swore worse than any of them, and Shiro could be very creative when the moment called for it.  But Lance didn’t wasn’t rivals with Pidge and Shiro.  They weren’t as fun to mess with as Keith was (partially because they both scared him a little bit, partially because neither of them blushed pink and got dangerously close to growling when you riled them up enough.  Those were Keith specific characteristics).

 

Anyways, as it turned out Keith swore all the time.  From simple aggravations to startling experiences to angry outbursts.  Keith was full of it, and Lance was endlessly amused.  He himself didn’t swear- almost couldn’t.  He had a Pavlovian reaction to curse words, unintentionally grimacing away from his mother’s stink eye every time he tried. 

 

Even light years away from Earth, Lance wasn’t willing to risk it.  He wouldn’t put it past Shiro to come at him with a wooden spoon if he crossed the line, and Lance didn’t want to push it.

 

Keith, on the other hand, didn’t have a fearful bone in his stupid body.  He burned himself in the kitchen, turning a dial to ‘heat’ when he’d meant to turn it to ‘freeze,’ and he’d shook his hand out wildly and called the stove a ‘stupid son of a bitch!’ right in front of Coran.  Coran had been endlessly puzzled by Keith’s exclamation, the words having gotten garbled by the translators.  When he asked Keith for a repeat, Lance had been ready to die. 

 

Keith swore in front of Shiro, too.  Even  _ at _ Shiro on one occasion.  

 

Injuries were inevitable in their line of work, but nobody had expected Keith to get his leg crushed in the middle of a low-risk scouting mission.  There was a rock slide, some run away boulders, and a drastically low supply of good fortune.  Lance had never seen a broken bone  _ look  _ like that.  They were a mile deep in a cave when it happened, too narrow to be reached by lions.  Getting Keith out of there hadn’t been fun.

 

After arguing about it for a painfully long amount of time, Shiro finally just said, “Look, I’m sorry,” and scooped Keith up off the ground.

 

Keith had actually cried, clutching onto Shiro’s armor with an iron grip and gritting his teeth together so tight, Lance was scared they would shatter.  “God damn mother fucker Shiro you piece of fucking-” and he’d gone on like that for a while, hissing out a string of agonized insults while Hunk lead their way out of the cave and Pidge tried time and time again to send a connection through the thick planet exterior.  Lance hung back, guarding their rear, and Shiro carried Keith patiently out of the cave. 

 

“I know,” he murmured.  “I’m sorry.  Hang in there, buddy, just got to get you out of here.” 

 

They continued like that for a good portion of their journey out of the cave.  Afterwards, Keith mumbled out an apology, and Shiro shrugged it off with a hug.  Whatever it took to get through, perhaps.  

Lance still couldn’t bring himself to swear. 

 

When it wasn’t in times of danger, poking fun at Keith for swearing was a good deal of fun.  He couldn’t rightfully rib Keith for it when his leg was busted into two dozen pieces, but when Keith replied vehemently during a debriefing, responding to Kolivan’s mention of Zarkon with a venomous “Yeah, well fuck him,” Lance figured it was anybody’s game. 

 

Judging by the matching looks of shock on the faces of the Alteans  _ and  _ the Marmorites, that particular comment had actually made it through the translator.  That just made it more fun. 

 

“Geez, Keith.  You kiss your mother with that mouth?” Lance teased.  It was supposed to be funny.  Lance hadn’t expected it to go anywhere. 

 

But they couldn’t predict rock falls, and they couldn’t predict their teammate’s behavior, no matter how close the bond between all of them was becoming. 

 

Keith shrugged one shoulder casually and said, “Well, no.  She's dead.” 

 

That, in Lance’s opinion, explained a lot. 

 

Hunk was not quite as enlightened.  “Wait, what?” he yelped, expressing his shock in usual Hunk fashion.  Pidge cocked a curious eyebrow.  Shiro cast a solemn look out towards the stars. The aliens were still blinking back their surprise from Keith’s previous outburst. 

 

He frowned a bit and sent Hunk another shrug.  “I’m an orphan,” he said, words falling like heavy frost across the room.  Lance actually saw Kolivan’s heart shatter.  “So, y’know.  I  _ don’t _ kiss my mother with this mouth.  Also, that’s a weird thing to say anyways, Lance, what the hell.” 

 

Lance would have shot something back, but he was temporarily distracted.  First of all, why hadn’t Keith told them about this earlier?  This was, in his humble opinion, something that should have come up sooner.  Team bonding, and all that.  They weren’t supposed to have any secrets, and being parent-less was a pretty big secret. 

 

That wasn’t the most distracting thing though.  The most distracting thing was the looks Kolivan and Antok were trading over everyone’s heads, sadness obvious on Kolivan’s weathered face and practically seeping through Antok’s mask.

 

Just another thing Lance couldn’t anticipate- rock slides, the Galra empire, outbursts from his teammates, and Marmorite behavior.  Whatever they were thinking- and they were thinking it very loudly- Lance sure as heck hoped he saw the result of it.


	2. Chapter 2

Allura was the first to break the silence that fell over the command room.  She said, “My parents are dead as well,” as if that was supposed to help any.  Keith’s eyes had grown wide, gaze downcast, mouth screwed up tight to show that he hadn’t really thought through his comment before he said it and was kind of hoping the castle floor would open up underneath him and swallow him whole.

 

At Allura’s words, Hunk let out a relieved breath, shoulders slumping a bit.  Pidge glanced off to the side, uncomfortable.  Kolivan’s face, on the other hand, crumpled further.  Lance wanted to say something, cut this trainwreck off before anyone else got run over. Coran beat him to it.

 

“Your parents did not die in vain,” he said, seemingly speaking to both Allura and Keith, even though there was no way for him to know how or why Keith’s parents had passed.  This was the first any of them had heard about Keith’s family.  It made Lance sadder than he wanted to admit.  He thought about his own family constantly.

 

Coran said, “They would be proud of who you’ve become.”

 

Lance felt himself tear up a little.  Allura cleared her throat and brought them back to the conversation at hand.  Kolivan never did get that look off his face.

  


…

  


Lance probably would have given his right arm to go back to Earth and see his family- he accidentally said that in front of Shiro one time, and the resulting look of absolute unamusement had _not_ been worth it.  Poorly worded exaggerations aside, Lance really did miss Earth more than he could bear.  He and Hunk talked about it sometimes, when the others weren’t around.  Hunk missed his family too.  Hunk had always been better at dealing with these things.

 

During their first year at the Garrison, Lance had been so homesick that it made him physically sick.  Stomach aches and fatigue and just an overwhelming sadness that sat heavily behind his eyes.  Hunk had helped- had pointed out distractions and babbled about military _this_ and Garrison _that_ and _‘Wow, Lance, they let us take apart an actual rocket engine next year!’_  It had worked wonders.  Hunk was good at stuff like that.

 

Space was full of distractions too.

 

Lance was older now.  He was better at dealing with these things, and he wasn’t about to let his loneliness get in the way of their mission.  They had a _mission_ , a _purpose_ , and real, horrible consequences if they weren’t all at their absolute best.

 

That was… a lot to think about.  Lance did his best to let it encourage him instead of drag him down.

 

Distractions, though.  Distractions were good.  Right now, Lance’s main distraction was Kolivan.

 

He and Antok were up to something, murmuring quietly to each other in dark corners of the castle hallways, voices low enough that Lance couldn’t hear them through the translators.  He’d considered snooping (he was the youngest of five- aka, _king_ of snooping), but a pair of lethally trained revolutionaries was a little bit scarier than the wrath of his brothers.  Lance didn’t want to push his luck.

 

Unfortunately, Lance didn’t actually see Kolivan and Antok _doing_ anything- at least, not for a while.  Not until their next trip out of the castle, at least.  

 

“We’re docking in forty dobashes,” Allura announced, shutting down a screen and turning away from her stand.  “Remember the supply lists we gave each of you, and do your best to stay in the main market area.  This isn’t a space mall.  People can be… unpredictable.”

 

“They didn’t exactly stay out of trouble in the space mall….” Shiro muttered quietly.  He was still a bit sore about Kaltenecker.  Lance made it up to him by making sure Kaltenecker’s stall (room?)  was clean any time Shiro felt inclined to go check.

 

“More trouble to be found here,” Coran noted.  “The side streets are known to be riddled with space pirates!”

 

“That’s what you said about the space mall,” Pidge pointed out.  “And the only pirate there was you.”

 

Coran narrowed his eyes like he was going to say something.  Shiro took the chance to step in.  “Let’s go.  This planet’s atmosphere is safe, so there’s no need to suit up, but make sure you have everything you need for the mission.”  They filed out of the hallway quietly, Hunk and Pidge murmuring about something Lance wasn’t interested in.  He was interested in the scene in front of him, though, when Keith turned right to head to the hangers, and Kolivan dragged him backwards with one claw hooked in the back of his jacket.

 

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked.  Keith looked puzzled.

 

“To the pod?” he asked, frowning openly.  “We’re leaving soon.”

 

“You are not leaving like that,” Kolivan replied.  Lance’s eyebrows shot up, and he stepped to the side so he could hide behind Shiro, who was also hanging back curiously.  “When was the last time you took a shower?  You should smell _clean_ when meeting a new species.”

 

Keith was a little speechless at that.  Lance, on the other hand, was pressing his palm to his mouth to keep himself from laughing out loud.  Eventually Keith found the words, “I… what?” but by then it was too late.  Kolivan was already giving him an encouraging push in the direction of the showers (which, because of the size difference, was more of a hearty shove).  Keith stumbled forwards a few steps, before shooting Kolivan an indignant look over his shoulder.

 

He didn’t argue, though.  Maybe because Kolivan was big and threatening and probably wasn’t used to being questioned.  Maybe because it was common knowledge that he could kick everyone _but_ Allura’s ass with one arm tied behind his back.

 

Either way, Keith headed towards the showers with his metaphorical tail tucked between his legs, and Kolivan headed off the other way.  Shiro turned to Lance, found him on the verge of hysterical laughter, and sent him a disapproving frown before dragging him off down the hallway.

 

Kolivan had just earned some brownie points, in his opinion.  The people on this ship did not care about hygiene nearly as much as they should have.

 

He wondered if this had anything to do with the “orphan confession,” as Lance had started calling it (in his head, and while gossiping with Hunk).  He didn’t think so, at first, but he had some very vivid memories of his mother snagging him as he ran out the door and scrubbing him behind the ears.  

 

Not that Kolivan was anyone’s mother, but… still.  There were obvious parallels.

 

Regardless, Lance had a mission to prepare for.  He let Shiro drag him off down the hallway and double checked the list Coran had given him.  Supply missions were fun, and alien markets were awesome.  He had a great day of distractions ahead of him.  He didn’t need to spend it thinking about Keith.

  
  


…

  


Keith was an idiot.

 

An absolute idiot.

 

Lance was kind of worried about the state of his team if these were the people on board with him.

 

Okay, no.  That was harsh.  Lance wasn’t that mean, but _geez_ , Keith was an idiot.  

 

His first comment when they reached the hilltop overlooking the city they were visiting was a quiet “Holy shit…” whispered under his breath.  It earned him a smack on the back of the head from Shiro, but Lance had to agree with the sentiment.  The city wasn’t that large, but the market was _sprawling_.  Lance could see canvas tents and colorful booths stretching for miles.  They clashed against the brilliant shine of the metal buildings surrounding them, each of which was overflowing with plant life from rooftop gardens.  Color overflowed everywhere from the plants and the neon signs and the city’s inhabitants, a flying chameleon-like people who wore robes that reminded Lance of The Last Airbender and made apparently amazing cuisine with mushrooms too poisonous for them to try eating.

 

The city was brilliant, was the point, and they took a few minutes to stand still and ogle it before splitting into groups to go exploring.  Pidge climbed up onto Hunk’s shoulders and was promptly carried away; Coran slipped his hand into the crook of Shiro’s elbow and dragged him off, talking about how he and his academy pals had loved visiting markets like these when they were ‘about your maturity, Shiro, if I grasp human ages correctly.’  Shiro didn’t look terribly excited about being “shown the ropes,” but he was too polite to say anything.  

 

Kolivan and Antok disappeared before Lance even realized they were leaving, and that left only him and Keith without partners.  

 

That was okay.  It wasn’t rare for them to be buddied off these days.

 

It was a nice walk into the city.  A star was shining bright and powerful over them, reminding Lance of home the way nothing had managed to for weeks.  His skin felt hot, and he wondered if it would be enough to darken his complexion any.  He was kind of worried his skin color would lighten from how long they’d been away from the Sun.  This sun was just as good though, he figured.  He felt solar powered.

 

Keith looked exhausted.  He was red faced and dripping with sweat, sagging a little bit as he gathered the hair off the back of his neck and tied it back.

 

“You good, beauty queen?” Lance asked him, fanning himself with his hand as he looked over a nearby stall that offered rat-like creatures on tiny leashes.  Weird.  Keith scowled at him.

 

“It’s like a million fucking degrees,” he complained.  Lance rolled his eyes at his companion.

 

“You lived in the desert,” he reminded him, just in case Keith had forgotten.

 

Apparently he hadn’t.  “Yeah.  It was awful.”

 

But Lance wasn’t going to let Keith’s complaining and sweating ruin his fun in the sun.  He shoved their bag into Keith’s arms and kept his list in hand as he lead them through the market.  It was a relatively peaceful day for the first few hours, and it wasn’t until they had thirty minutes before heading back to the castle that they ran into trouble.

 

It started when Lance lost Keith.

 

And okay, _no_ , he didn’t lose Keith.  It was just that one second he was there, grumbling along and lugging around a canvas bag of groceries, and the next minute Lance was surrounded by a hoard of nine foot fuzzy tube aliens without Keith anywhere in sight.  He tried turning around and going the other way, but the Fuzzies were determined to keep him in the pack.  Several blocks later, when he was finally able to duck free into an ally, he was even more lost than he had been before.

 

He headed back into the streets and started searching for Keith with only moderate level of panic.  Worst case scenario, he hoped he found Keith before one of them got kidnapped or killed.  Best case scenario, he hoped he found Keith before Shiro and Coran found either of them and killed them both with the infamous ‘buddy system lecture.’

 

In the end, neither of those things happened, though Lance wasn’t sure reality was any better.  

 

He was darting around a corner near the edge of the market when angry voices caught his attention and caused him to skid to a stop.  He ducked behind a stand selling colorful scarves and peeked around the corner- one of the voices was being fed through the translators they wore, he could tell that much.  They other was very, very human.  

 

Sure enough, a confrontation was going down at a booth just a few feet away.  Someone tall and muscly and _blue_ was holding a knife out in front of him, crowding Keith back into a booth, gills flapping angrily and eyes narrowed in a glare.  Keith looked ticked, but also scared.  

 

“I didn’t steal anything!” Keith shouted, struggling against the alien’s grip on the collar of his t-shirt.  

 

“Liar!” the fish-man yelled back.  Keith snarled at him.  Lance reached for his bayard where it sat tucked into the waistband of his jeans and pushed away from his own booth, ready to jump into the action.

 

He was one booth away when a firm hand wrapped around his shoulder and yanked him back.  He reeled backwards, struggling to keep his balance as Kolivan darted past him and threw himself into the scene.  

 

“Careful!” a nearby booth keeper shouted, shaking a spoon at Lance as he nearly bumped into a sizzling grill full of tuber fruits.  He hissed and yanked his hand away before he could be burnt.  Meanwhile Kolivan growled and snatched Keith away from the fish-man’s grip, pushing himself in front of Keith as he stood nose to nose with the angry alien.

 

“What seems to be the problem here?” he asked.  Lance’s hand was throbbing where he’d knocked it against the sizzling metal.  He tucked it into his chest and stepped closer, still clutching his bayard with his other hand.

 

The fish-man jabbed a vicious fin/finger at Keith and gurgled angrily.  “This one stole several of my Pichu fruits!  I ought to have his hand for this.”  Keith would have been right up in that guy’s face if Kolivan wasn’t such an effective wall between the two.  He peeked around the best he could and bared his teeth angrily.

 

“I didn’t steal them!” he shouted.  “They fell off the table, and some little kid ran off with them!”

 

“They fell because you knocked them off!” the booth keeper shouted.  A crowd had gathered around to watch, disapproving alien faces coming from all directions.  Lance stepped closer as several hip height stone creatures bumped into him from behind.  

 

He was more than willing to believe Keith knocked the fruits off by accident.  That was a total Keith thing to do.  Apparently Kolivan thought so too.  He closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath, the way Lance’s father used to when he was trying to gather his patience, before he reopened his eyes and nodded.

 

“How much does he owe you?” Kolivan asked.  “This cub is mine.  You will not hurt him.  Allow me to pay his debts.”

 

Keith perked up and started to argue, but he snapped his mouth closed and shut up at the look Kolivan cast over his shoulder.  It wasn’t even directed his way and Lance found himself shrinking back.  Keith wasn’t an absolute idiot.  He held his tongue and sent angry glares at the ground under their feet.  

 

The fish-guy did not seem any more satisfied by this arrangement.  “The Galra price is twenty gak,” he finally said, which was an obnoxious amount of money to pay for a few pieces of fruit.  Kolivan seemed unmoved by the blatant racism, though.  He simply handed the money over and gave a nod.

 

He then turned to Keith and said, “We’re leaving,” with a voice like thunder.  Keith looked like he was about to argue again, for some God-forsaken reason (the guy had no sense of self-preservation, obviously), but Kolivan was having none of it.  He stooped down easily and threw Keith over one shoulder and their bag of groceries over the other.  

 

Keith yelped indignantly, pushing up on his elbows.  Kolivan ignored him and set off in the way he’d come.  Other market goers scrambled out of the way and cleared a path for the terrifying Blade of Marmora leader.  They walked past Lance, and Lance was still standing there gawking at them when a huge hand settled in the center of his back.

 

“Come along,” said Antok, giving an encouraging push that lifted Lance off his feet a little with force.  Lance stumbled after them and followed them back to the castle, carefully not making eye contact with Keith the entire walk back.

 

When Lance was little, he'd gotten in trouble at his aunt's house for tripping and spilling a glass of grape juice on her white living room curtains.  She'd gripped his arm tight, manicured fingernails digging painfully into his skin, and lifted him up onto his toes while shouting at him and threatening all kinds of punishments.

 

Lance had been a petrified, teary mess, babbling apologies over and over while she continued to scream at him. 

 

That is, until his mother stepped in between them and removed Lance from his aunt's grip.  "You do not hurt him," she'd growled, her own grip around his shoulders comforting and protective instead of scary and painful.  "Do not touch my child.  Mijo, are you okay?"

 

"Did they hurt you?" Kolivan asked, voice still gruff but grip obviously secure and protective.  Keith sighed and rubbed his hands over his face, swaying slightly with every step Kolivan took.  

 

"I'm fine."

 

  


…

  



	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this feels like a bit of a mess, but it's 2am and if i don't post it now, i never will. yay college.

It wasn’t until they were stepping into the command deck that Kolivan finally set Keith back on his feet.  Keith huffed quietly and straightened his clothes out while the others rushed over, surprise written on their faces.  Allura and Pidge were there, huddled around a screen at Pidge’s station until they walked in and interrupted their work.  Now Pidge was looking Keith up and down as if scanning him for injuries, and Allura was regarding them all with a frown and hands on her hips. 

 

“What happened?” she asked.  “You were late for the rendezvous point.  Are you hurt?” 

 

“I’m fine,” Keith answered instantly, while Lance slipped his burnt hand into his hoodie pocket, ignoring the way it stung when the new welt brushed against the fabric.  “Nothing happened.” 

 

“There was an altercation,” Kolivan said, and Keith shot him the most betrayed glare Lance had ever seen.  Lance pressed his lips together tight and directed his gaze across the room, distancing himself from this trainwreck as much as possible.   

 

Kolivan explained the situation in a voice that left no room for argument or interruption.  Keith, consequently, kept his mouth shut.  Maybe the guy did have a sense of self-preservation after all. 

 

Or maybe not.  “I had it under control,” Keith snapped when it was his turn to speak.  Allura turned her attention to him, and Keith immediately bristled under the gaze of everyone in the room (including Pidge, who had wandered back to her station but was still peaking at them without a trace of guilt).  

 

“That Piscus could have taken your head off,” Kolivan barked back.  “He wanted to take your hand!”  

 

“We cannot have the paladins of Voltron getting a reputation as thieves, especially not on peaceful trading planets,” Allura scolded in a voice that both scared Lance to his very core and fascinated him in ways that were inappropriate to think about in public.  When she snapped her glare towards him, Lance’s stomach plummeted.  “And where were you for all of this?” she asked. 

 

Lance was not about to get put into hot water.  The last time he’d made Allura mad, she’d made them run laps in training the next day.  Apparently ‘suicides’ were a universal training drill, and they were aptly named wherever you were in the galaxy.  After twenty minutes of darting back and forth across the training room, not only was Lance ready to kill himself, the rest of the team was as well. 

 

Well, not today, thank you.  This one was  _ not _ his fault. 

 

“We got separated!” he answered quickly, putting his hands up.  “The streets were crowded.  I found him as fast as I could!” 

 

“What concerns me is that you did not call for backup,” Kolivan said, pulling the attention back away from Lance and making him physically sag with relief.  “You have that device for this very reason.” 

 

“I didn’t need backup,” Keith argued.  “I was  _ fine _ .” 

 

Keith was glaring up at Kolivan now, every piece of him singing with defiance.  Nope, Lance decided.  No sense at all.  He glowered up at the leader of the most powerful revolutionary force in the galaxy, and Kolivan glowered back, stooping a little to do so.  Between that, Allura’s obvious displeasure, and Antok blocking the only door to the main hallway, Lance felt kind of trapped and incredibly small.  

 

“You are not in a position to be angry.  You could have been killed.  You should be grateful.” 

 

“Grateful for  _ what _ ?” Keith’s voice rose to a shout and Lance’s blood froze in his veins.  Footsteps behind him caught his attention, and he turned to see Shiro step into the room, concern evident in the crease between his eyebrows.  He looked older than he ought to, at that point, but then again, Shiro often looked older than he actually was. 

 

Keith, on the other hand- between Kolivan’s height advantage and the anger written on Keith’s face -looked ridiculously young.  

 

“Forgive me for trying to protect you!” Kolivan yelled back.  Lance wondered if this was the climax to the feelings he’d witnessed a few days ago, the utter heartbreak written across Kolivan’s face at the confession, the quiet murmurings in the hallway, the soft glances towards Keith whenever the paladin wasn’t paying attention. 

 

Huh.  Maybe. 

 

Lance hadn’t expected it to go down quite like this. 

 

Keith was so angry he was speaking through his teeth.  Angry for reasons Lance didn’t understand,  _ couldn’t _ understand.  He hissed out, “I don’t need anyone to look out for me.  I’m not your kid to take care of, and you’re not me family.” 

 

“Keith-” Shiro finally spoke up from the back of the room, but by then it was too late.  Keith was storming away from Kolivan, shoulder checking Lance out of his way, and pounding out of the room.  If the doors on the castle were capable of slamming, Lance was certain the walls would have rattled.

 

Lance considered going after him, just for a moment, and then thought better of it.  Keith liked alone time.  He probably needed space to cool down. 

 

Much like Kolivan, who stepped away from the princess, threw his hands in the air, and growled, “Teenagers!”  The word sounded slightly off, suggesting it had gotten garbled a bit in the translator, but the sentiment was still there.  

 

“Patience…” Antok reminded from his position by the door, voice calm.  “Letting him work you up is not good for anyone.” 

 

“He’s just-” Kolivan started to say something, then glanced around the room and bit his tongue.  “My apologies, Princess.  I didn’t mean-” 

 

Allura shook her head.  “I understand.  You should hear Coran go off when he’s had a long day.”  She smiled almost apologetically before explaining, “The mice don’t let anyone keep secrets.”  Lance would have to keep that in mind.  

 

“Your temper is almost as bad as Shiro’s,” Pidge piped up, patting Shiro on the shoulder right before disappearing out the door.  She moved quickly, which was probably wise.  It didn’t seem like anyone was in the mood for teasing at that point.  

 

Shiro let his frown follow her out the door before looking back at Kolivan, who was already calming down from his brief explosion.  Shiro nodded once, towards the door, and said, “I think we should talk.” 

 

Kolivan nodded back, and Antok followed the both of them out.  Then Lance was left with Allura in the command room.  She sighed and ran her fingers over the data pad displayed over her console.  Lance chewed on his bottom lip and tried to ignore the throbbing in his hand, tried to ignore the part of him that was aching to go eavesdrop. 

 

Distractions, he reminded himself, and let his hand become the focus.  Even Keith deserved privacy every once in awhile.  Lance could give him that.

  
  


…

 

No he couldn’t.  

 

Lance didn’t listen in on Kolivan and Shiro- partially because Shiro’s disappointed face would leave Lance feeling guilty for  _ hours _ , partially because Allura was in the same room as him, and she didn’t need to see him stoop that low.  He didn’t listen in on Kolivan and Shiro, but he did listen in later.  He was only human, after all.  Will power only went so far. 

 

Convincing Pidge to hook him up with the security cameras would have been the ideal way to go, but she and Hunk hadn’t quite figured out the audio-visual connection yet.  The translators didn’t work through the video feeds ever since Haggar’s black magic had hit the ship, and Lance wasn’t in the mood to listen to a one sided conversation.

 

So instead he did it the old-fashioned way.  He waited for Kolivan to disappear into Keith’s room, then he’d snuck down the hall on tip toes and positioned himself outside the door. 

 

Altean technology was amazing in every sense except for soundproofing, and for that, Lance was eternally grateful. 

 

This wasn’t something he should be listening in on- Lance knew that.  That wasn’t enough to stop him, though, because when it came down to it, there was still a great deal about Keith that he didn’t understand.  The guy played his cards close to the chest.  Lance was more of a ‘wear your heart on your sleeve,’ kind of guy, and it was just plain easier when everyone else was too.  He didn’t like not knowing where he stood with people.  He didn’t like not  _ understanding people _ .  And if listening in on private conversations was what it took to understand Keith, then that was a sacrifice Lance was willing to make. 

 

Besides.  He was the youngest of six.  He was a world class snoop. 

 

They were already talking when Lance came to the conversation.

 

“I shouldn’t have yelled….” That was Keith, sounding guilty and unsure of himself.  Probably staring off at the floor while he was talking.  Sometimes Keith wasn’t good with eye contact. 

 

“Myself as well,” Kolivan answered.  “You must understand where I am coming from.” 

 

“Yeah,” Keith said, and it was obvious he was bitter even though Lance couldn’t see his face.  “You think I can’t take care of myself.” 

 

“That is not true.” 

 

“Then what?  I’ve proven myself, haven’t I?  I’m not some child you have to look after!” Keith’s voice was rising again, and Lance wondered if this conversation was going to fall apart as quickly as the last one.  He wondered if Keith realized what he was saying, or if he realized he’d said it twice now.  

 

_ I’m not a kid to take care of _ and  _ I’m not a child to look after _ .  

 

Lance understood where he was coming from.  At the Garrison their status was well defined and often thrown in their faces.  They were cadets, they were inexperienced, and they were surrounded by superior officers.  Even Shiro used that word still from time to time, not nearly as much as he had when they’d first came together on Arus, but he was known to occasionally slip.  

 

Sometimes it was easy to forget, that Lance hadn’t even been on Earth for two decades before hurtling into space, that he still answered to his parents as much as he answered to the Garrison.  Sure, they were legal adults, but next to alien species who’d been around for thousands of years, that meant nothing. 

 

Lance was sickeningly aware of their youth, of their inexperience, of their immaturity and insecurity and fears, at least his own.  The others had to feel the same as him, right?  It was hard to compartmentalize being Defenders of the Universe when more than one ‘ally’ had leeringly referred to them as “child soldiers.” 

 

Defenders of the Universe, yes, but sometimes Lance felt like a joke.  Next to Coran or even Shiro, but especially next to the Blade of Marmora, who had more experience than Lance could ever accomplish in his lifetime. 

 

It couldn’t be any easier for Keith- constantly being taken down a peg.  Lance almost felt bad for him. 

 

As much as Lance wanted to dig his heels in and insist he was an adult and he knew what he was doing and he could handle the fate of the universe on his  _ own _ , thank you, more often than not he spent his nights dreaming he was back home, wrapped in his mother’s arms and safe and grounded and far, far away from the Galra.

 

Keith… didn’t have that. 

 

“Let me speak,” were Kolivan’s first words after several long moments of silence.  There was the sound of shifting, like someone sitting on a mattress.  Maybe they were sitting next to each other.  Lance couldn’t be sure.  “You are not a child.  I know this.  Your lack of years startled Antok and myself when we first found out, but it is something we understand now.” 

 

Keith didn’t say anything.  Lance pressed his ear tighter to the door. 

 

“You are grown in age or maturity, and you and the others have proved yourselves to be powerful warriors.  After all that you have seen, even your youth could not give you back your innocence.” 

 

Lance sucked in a harsh breath, then made himself hold it silently.  He closed his eyes to listen.  Keith still didn’t say anything. 

 

“But you are like children in the universe.  Your Earth is primitive.  They have not reached out to other life yet, and there had not been anyone to teach you how to get around.  Watching you all stumble and learn is hard.  Forgive me for trying to protect you.” 

 

Lance was mostly certain those were the same words Kolivan had said earlier- “Forgive me for trying to protect you.”  Before they’d come out venomous, sarcastic and mean.  Now, however, they sounded nothing but sincere. 

 

Keith’s reply followed a long span of silence, and it was almost too quiet to hear.  He said, “I’ve never had anyone protecting me before….” slowly, like he was picking each word out by hand and trying it on first, making sure everything came out exactly the way he wanted it to.  “I don’t need any help taking care of myself.” 

 

“The help is here, though, whenever you wish to accept it.  No cub should go without someone to guide them.” 

 

Keith made a quiet, frustrated noise.  “I’m not good at listening,” he said, as if that was some big secret.  “I’m not good with people.” 

 

Kolivan said, “Neither am I.  I have much to learn.”   

 

They didn’t speak again after that, but Lance hung around and waited.  He imagined they might be sharing a hug, or some other similar gesture- God knows Keith needed it.  When was the last time someone had hugged him?  Lance would be inclined to try if he wasn’t sure Keith would kick him in the gut. 

 

After a while, when Lance was starting to get bored and sagging against the door, the sound of footsteps inside the room caught his attention. 

 

His legs were numb when he stood up, but he was not about to get caught with his ear pressed against the door.  He shoved his way to his feet and took off as fast as his legs could carry him. 

 

Unfortunately, numb feet are clumsy feet.  When he rounded a corner at the same time as Coran, stopping wasn’t as graceful as it should have been, and Lance found himself tumbling head over heal and crashing into the floor right in front of Coran. 

 

“King Grogery!” Coran exclaimed, stooping down and lifting Lance’s limp arm off the cool floor.  “What happened to your hand, my boy?” 

 

Lance had almost forgotten. He dropped his head onto the floor with a groan, and let Coran practically peel him off the marble and drag him down the hall to the infirmary.

  
  
  


…

  
  


Pidge was having far more fun with the healing scanner than Lance was.  It looked like a lazer gun, fit in the palm of Coran’s hand, and apparently focused the energy of the healing pod onto a specific, targeted area. 

 

“For small injuries,” Coran had explained.  “Like getting bit by a Felkmur, or decided to place your hand on a sizzling grill of tuber fruits!”   

 

They set up shop in the common room, and seeing as nobody else had any pressing matters to attend to, almost every occupant of the castle had crowded around to see how the thing worked.  

 

Allura and Hunk hadn’t joined them yet, but everyone else had gathered around Lance and Coran on the couches.  Even Kolivan and Antok were hanging nearby, watching with vague interest and talking quietly among themselves.  Lance couldn’t hear what they were saying over Pidge’s incessant questions.

 

“The healing pods are cold.  Does this freeze the injury?  How does that work anyways?”

 

“Does it hurt?  Would it hurt in the pod if it didn’t knock you unconscious?” 

 

“How is this going to affect our ability to regenerate?  Is it going to scar?  I still have that nasty scar from-” 

 

It turned out Pidge was right about the ice thing.  When Coran held his arm down with one hand and pulled the ‘trigger’ on the scanner with the other, the incredible contrast between the fire in his hand and the flash freeze of the gun startled a yelp out of him. 

 

“Aiie!” If Coran wasn’t as strong as he was, Lance would have fallen off the couch.  As it was, he screwed his eyes up and hissed through his teeth, trying to breathe through the pain of temperature shock.  He heard someone laughing at him (probably Keith), but he was too distracted to care. 

 

“Almost done,” Coran said, sounding more than a little amused.  “Level two, now, here we go.” 

 

Whatever Coran did made the burning sensation a hundred times  _ worse _ , and Lance wasn’t even forming a coherent thought when he opened his mouth.  “Ow  _ ow ow! _  Son of a  _ bitch! _ ” 

 

Someone in the room gave an audible gasp as Lance quickly realized what he’d said.  His eyes flew open and he slapped his good hand over his mouth in shock, but there was no undoing the damage.  Everyone was staring at him with the same wide-eyed shock except for the Marmorites, who looked like he’d just insulted their mothers. 

 

Oh… oh no. 

 

“And what is so wrong,” Kolivan asked. “With being the son of a bitch?” 

 

It had to be a different word in Galran- it  _ had _ to- but since the translators gave the intent of the message along with its meaning, Lance was entirely screwed.  Pidge and Keith were holding in laughter with so much effort it was making their eyes water, and Shiro wasn’t terribly far behind them.  Coran simply raised an eyebrow.

 

Kolivan had to be teasing.  He  _ had  _ to.  Lance grimaced anyways. 

 

“Perhaps we’ll have to have a lesson on being sensitive to other cultures and linguistically aware of ourselves,” Coran stated simply, mischief playing at his smile.  “You’re good to go, number three.  Good as new.” 

 

Lance didn’t even look at his hand first -he trusted Coran- just groaned and dropped his head into his hands to hide. 

 

“No really, paladin,” Kolivan said.  “Is there something different with Earth bitches?” 

 

Lance tugged at his hair and watched Shiro duck his head, shoulders shaking in silent laughter.  Keith wasn’t quite as good at containing himself.  He burst out laughing so hard that he nearly toppled over.  Pidge scrambled to support him at the last second. 

 

“Wait,” Hunk’s voice joined the cacophony in the room as he appeared in the doorway, covered in grease and smoking alarmingly.  “Did Kolivan just say Earth bitches?”

 

Keith was actually crying with laughter from that statement, and Pidge quickly joined him.  Lance glared at the entire group and tried not to die when Allura entered the room, image of composed regality.  She looked over the room- the occupants of whom were all at least chuckling at this point, even Antok- and shook her head. 

 

“I don’t want to know,” she stated, a phrase she’d picked up from Shiro. 

 

Pidge snickered and elbowed Keith in the side.  “Earth bitches!” 

 

Shiro did a poor job of holding back his own laughter as he scolded, “Language,” and Lance decided that the universe really was unfair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> stay tuned for more; send me prompts if you have them; thank you for all the lovely comments!! 
> 
> dads of marmora is life. you guys should all write some too. we'll build a dads of marmora empire, full of endearing misunderstandings and familial bonding. it'll be great.


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